Para-archives is an initiative aiming to regenerate curiosity, criticality, and creativity
in the way we reflect on the surrounding world today, in the times of information overflow. Conceptually, the project concentrates on informal accounts, dillegently pursued idiosyncratic collections,
and poetic inventories of various excerpts from human and other-than-human lives, territories, and temporalities.
Practically, Para-archives is an independent art/research publication, repository, and curatorial initiative.
This website presents some of its completed and ongoing works.

The prefix para- takes on several meanings here. As the etymology
indicates, coming from the Greek the term denotes that which happens
beside, is amiss and out of place. But para- might also mean a state of being
distant from and yet analogous to something or someone (as in para-military).
Here, the prefix para- is used primarily to indicate the parallel nature of
personal collecting and archiving in relation to other currents of everday life.
It also differentiates them from other, institutional archiving practices undertaken
by, for example, memory institutions, state archives and museums
concerned typically with the formalization, accumulation, preservation, and
administration of historical documents.

Besides that, para-archiving can be seen as a practice taking place parallel to other kinds of both
voluntary and non-voluntary, automated, imperceptible capturing and
micro-archiving practices and mechanisms inscribed deeply in the workings of today's computational technologies and network services.

If you engage in para-archival practices yourself, or know of someone
who does, and would like the project to be featured here, please get in touch via info(at)para-archives(dot)net.
Do not hestitate to get in touch if you would like to organize a talk, exhibition, presentation, or a hands-on workshop on para-archiving.